What the Dog Sees
Last week I cited an HBR article about the stories we tell ourselves to make our own reality. This weekend I was doing a little extracurricular reading and ran across the name “Cesar Millan.” Cesar is perhaps best known as “The Dog Whisperer.” On his website, there is a tab on “Dog Psychology,” and in that tab is a feature called “10 Principles for Achieving Balance.” Principle 3 is “Know the difference between story and truth.” Imagine my delight when something random ties into something I had just written. Cesar says that “humans tell stories, while dogs tell the truth.”
Now my crazy brain is immediately directed to my friend Russel Hornfisher. Russ has been in the O&P field for longer than I can imagine and is well-known on the speaker circuit. In his spare time, he is devoted to dog rescue and competition, and he, like Cesar, has come to know a thing or two about canine behavior. His unique experiences and skills combine into a great storyteller and speaker. Russ has presented on leadership and management topics with catchy titles like “Who Moved My Dog Dish” and “How to Treat Your Employees Like Dogs.” He just recently wrote and published a book by the same name, “How To Treat Your Employees Like a Dog.”
I have had the opportunity to hear Russ speak and have been blessed to break bread with him a few times. His lessons and insights have inspired me. So coming full circle, we have an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review on adjusting our perceptions by recognizing the stories we tell ourselves, a mention of the “Dog Whisperer,” who talks about understanding the difference between a story and the truth, Russ Hornfisher and his insightful lessons on management and behavior inspired by his work with both dogs and humans, and then a book I picked up by Malcom Gladwell called “What the Dog Saw” (that’s why I called this “What The Dog Sees!”). Ok… so here’s the wake-up call.
Cesar goes on in his 3rd principle to say the following: “It isn’t until we listen to the truth that our dog is telling us that we can figure out what’s going on and bring balance to the pack. For example, if your dog is constantly pulling paper out of the trash and scattering it all over the house when you’re away, your story might be, ‘She must have thought there was food in there,’ or ‘He did that to let me know he’s angry that I left.’ The truth from the dog is different and is probably, ‘I’m bored.’”
Now think of the employees’ perception when you don’t take a minute to ask how their day is going or acknowledge a job well done. The story they might tell themselves is, “My boss doesn’t think I do a good job.” Or worse, “She didn’t care about me (or what I did).” You know the truth is you care, but you are busy.
So as managers and leaders, my takeaway from all of this is that it is incumbent upon us all to be aware of the stories we tell ourselves, but equally important is to know the stories the people who work for us tell themselves. What is their reality? Through what lens do they process information? What do your staff see when they look at you?